Gadling

Don't let the low cost sway you. These are really nice airplanes. Fun to fly, too!

Pictured is the CTSW which is made in Germany. It has a 1000 mile range and burns 4 gallons an hour while flying 130 m.p.h. Cheap to operate!

I've been drooling over it for some time. Now, to come up with the money to buy one...

If you are ready to order one of those airplanes:

http://flightdesign.com/index.php?page=product

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Once you get your Sport license however, you'll be so hooked on flying you'll want to get your Private license anyway. I got my Private license 15 years ago, it cost me about $5000 then I imagine it's more now. But worth every penny!

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I'd really like to do something like this. Here's a good database of instructors around the country:

http://www.sportpilot.org/instructors/

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Sounds like a lot of fun and still affordable!!

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It should be pointed out that the original linked article is a bit misleading. The $340 is the price for the "Hamilton Training System" which includes a bunch of training materials for instructors.

The minimum price to get a Sport Pilot License is mentioned later in the article:

"Training runs between $2,800 to $3,500, half the price of a private pilot license, and most flight schools offer two ways to get the license."

Still, you could be flying solo with around $1500. Much more reasonable than a private, and like ShadowGod said, if you get hooked, you can use this flight time toward your private pilots license later on.

If you just want to get the taste of a flying lesson, try out www.beapilot.com where they've contracted with a bunch of flight schools around the country to offer a $99 intro flight. I mean, really. What were you going to do that was more exciting this weekend?

Go fly!

Kent

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A passenger flying with a "Sport Pilot" is like a sick person going to a "Sport Doctor." I don't recommend it.

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I am pleasantly surprised that it took 6 comments to get to the inevitable "oh no, it's scary!" response. Good for you, first five. And Allan, if you equate the optional fun of flying with the necessary evil of going to the doctor when sick, you'll be more comfortable (and safer!) on disney.com.

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And by all means one should only drive to that 'sport doctors' office with a CDL licensed driver, preferably in an 18 wheeler.

The items left out in sport pilot training are of no use in these airplanes. Is it important for a pilot to be an expert in VOR Navigation in an airplane that doesn't even have a VOR installed? Should the pilot be familiar with complex aircraft if it's a fixed pitch airplane design?

Fortunately the FAA realized that the private license was overkill when flying J-3 cub type airplanes away from high density airports and below 10,000 feet. That is the intent in the sport pilot license.

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"To encourage people to get a pilot's license, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has come up with a new class of licenses for these "sports planes."" is a joke.
the faa faught the sport pilot lic from the gitgo. the eaa(www.eaa.org) is the folks that really got the sport pilot rating pushed through the faa quagmire. lots of lobby-ing and lots of time was spent conviencing the gov enity to accept a valid drivers lic as your medical for the sport pilot lic. the original planes that the sport pilots lic was designed for was the j3, erocupe and luscomb, to name just a few. these plane were selling for as little as $10k or less, at the time the sp lic issue was proposed to the faa. by the time it became reality, new planes started to show up for $80k plus, and were called cheap entry into flying, for the sport pilot rating.

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Sport pilots are VERY limited as to how far they can fly away from their base and where they can land. Spend the extra bucks and get the real thing. It is a blast. I have been flying for 25 years a love it

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Your price estimate is inaccurate. A light sport aircraft engine will consume about 5 gallons an hour. Even if you use auto fuel (and not all of those engines can do that), you're talking 100 gallons for 20 hours of flying. At $3.00 per gallon, that's $300 just in fuel. The flight instructor is not going to fly for free, so you can factor in, conservatively, at $15 per hour, about $150 at least for the instructor. Then add about $50 or so for materials (books, etc.), and $60.00 to take the computerized FAA exam. Then the airplane. If you don't spend $80,000 to buy one, you have to rent it, and whoever owns the aircraft is not going to give it to you for free. So count on at least $75 or so per hour for rental. For twenty hours of flight, that's about $1500. So it is cheaper to get a sport pilot license than a private pilot license, but not as cheaply as you quoted.

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I always hate to see things like this taken so lightly when there are so many lives involved, not just the buy-and-fly pilot. A recipe for disaster in so many ways. Thanks FAA.

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I have flown all over Alaska and Mexico plus. At 100 hrs I thought I was a pilot. At 400 hours I wondered where my head was at 100. At 1000 hrs 400 looked foolish. At 2000 hrs I began to catch on.My early hours were not simple. Bush strips, rod thru side of engine landing on road. Ice too thick to like. Engine out IFR over Seattle. short dirt strips in Mx. A license at 20 hrs is a license to kill. First on the scene at three crashes saw 8 of my friends dead!

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One word to the FAA, INSANITY!!!

Corporate Jet pilot,

Jonathan

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Post Script: I sold my last plane (Camanche 260) when my son (hundreds of hours) kept filling my plane with passenger and flying to Reno or Vegas without keeping current.

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